https://phys.org/space-news/planetary-sciences/ en-us Planetary science and exoplanets exploration news stories and features from Phys.org When you look up at the sky on a sunny day, the sun might seem like a bright spot, unchanging in the sky. But the sun is a complex, dynamic celestial body, wrapped in electrical currents and magnetic fields that constantly move and tangle as it rotates. At times the sun's surface is very active, casting out powerful bursts of plasma called coronal mass ejections, while at other times it is calmer. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-solar-11year-eruptions-flares.html Astronomy Sun, 24 May 2026 09:00:01 EDT news698500165 When the solar system formed, a disk of gas and dust orbited the young sun. Over the course of millions of years, the dust gradually clumped together to form kilometer-sized chunks known as planetesimals. Some grew into planets, while the rest are considered to be the precursors of today's asteroids. Researchers assume that this development did not proceed in a linear fashion, with different stages of planetesimal development occurring simultaneously, and not every region of the disk offering favorable "starting conditions" for planetesimals. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-jupiter-region-forged-meteorite-parent.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 18:00:02 EDT news698677261 The liquid iron in Earth's outer core doesn't always behave as expected. When it changed direction in an unexplained way, ESA satellites provided data on the direction of flow, helping scientists gain better insight into the dynamics at the center of our planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-earth-outer-core-beneath-pacific.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 10:29:20 EDT news698664530 Astronomers from Italy and Brazil have investigated a nearby red dwarf star known as Ross 318 and have discovered an exoplanet orbiting this star, which is at least six times more massive than Earth. The discovery is reported in a research paper published May 11 on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-astronomers-super-earth-orbiting-nearby.html Astronomy Fri, 22 May 2026 10:20:01 EDT news698641934 On May 21, ground controllers powered down NASA's AWE (Atmospheric Waves Experiment) instrument, bringing the data collection phase of the mission to a successful and scheduled end, surpassing its planned two-year mission. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nasa-awe-instrument-mission-earth.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 21 May 2026 19:20:04 EDT news698599201 Sand clouds form every morning but clear up by nightfall on WASP-94A b, a well-studied gas giant in a constellation located nearly 700 light years away from Earth. Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), research published in the journal Science is among the first to detect cloud cycles on a Hot Jupiter exoplanet. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-astronomers-de-fog-exoplanet-atmospheres.html Astronomy Thu, 21 May 2026 14:00:09 EDT news698571001 Preliminary results of a study presented at the recent European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna indicate that hellish Venus-type planets may be about twice as common as habitable planets that form with oceans. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-hellish-venus-planets-prevalent-true.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 21 May 2026 11:50:49 EDT news698582931 A planet that is about the size of Saturn, but with a temperature more like Earth's, has an atmosphere rich in methane, according to a new study using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). https://phys.org/news/2026-05-saturn-sized-exoplanet-earth-temperature.html Astronomy Thu, 21 May 2026 11:20:01 EDT news698577061 Suppose there are signs of extraterrestrial life and we have not yet been able to detect them. What does that mean? In Nature Astronomy, researchers discuss the consequences of these so-called false-negative results. "We are currently investing a great deal of money in missions that might need to be designed differently." https://phys.org/news/2026-05-extraterrestrial-life-space-missions-astrobiologists.html Astrobiology Thu, 21 May 2026 11:00:17 EDT news698570821 It's a truism among oceanographers that there is more accurate mapping of the surface of the moon and Mars than of the deep-ocean floor. That's especially true for the Bismarck Sea, a relatively deep body of water north of Papua New Guinea. It's an ocean basin with a geologically complex seafloor rife with faults, volcanic features, rifts, scarps, and active subduction and spreading zones at depths that make high-resolution sonar mapping challenging. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-eruption-bismarck-sea.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 21 May 2026 08:00:01 EDT news698568002 Neptune's far-flung moon Nereid may be the last of the planet's original companions that managed to survive a cosmic crash, scientists reported Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-neptune-mysterious-moon-nereid-survivor.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 20 May 2026 15:55:54 EDT news698511286 A team of scientists has recorded one of the most detailed views ever of a failed solar eruption, a powerful blast from the sun that never broke free. Their work is published in the journal Nature Astronomy. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-astronomers-uncover-solar-eruptions-die.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 20 May 2026 13:26:36 EDT news698502364 On a special night, if you are lucky, you might catch a faint red glow quietly lighting up Japan's sky, stretching low along the horizon and easy to miss if you are not looking carefully. Subtle and diffuse, it probably appears as a soft crimson haze. But behind this glowing beauty are countless charged particles traveling from the sun toward Earth's magnetic field, which then collide with oxygen atoms high above our planet. At these great heights, where the air is extremely thin, the excited oxygen atoms then release their energy as dim red light, creating the auroras we see from the ground. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-space-storms-japan-sky-red.html Astronomy Wed, 20 May 2026 11:40:07 EDT news698494681 A discovery by a South Korean research team suggests that impact-generated lakes may have fostered early oxygen-producing life. A team of South Korean scientists has uncovered new evidence that could help explain how Earth's atmosphere became rich in oxygen, one of the most transformative events in the planet's history. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-asteroid-impact-site-reveals-early.html Astrobiology Wed, 20 May 2026 10:20:05 EDT news698490421 Captured by the multispectral imager instrument on NASA's Psyche mission, this is an enhanced-color view of the large double-ring crater Huygens (upper right; about 290 miles, or 470 kilometers, in diameter) and the surrounding heavily cratered southern highlands near 15 degrees south latitude. The various colors in this dramatic scene are likely due to differences in the compositional properties of dust, sand, and bedrock in this ancient terrain. The image scale is around 2,200 feet (670 meters) per pixel. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-image-nasa-psyche-mission-captures.html Space Exploration Wed, 20 May 2026 09:00:05 EDT news698482682 This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026, at about 5:03 a.m. PDT by NASA's Psyche mission as it approached the planet for a gravity assist. Captured by the spacecraft's multispectral imager instrument, this was the last view of the whole planet before it began to overfill the field of view of the camera. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-image-nasa-psyche-mission-images.html Space Exploration Wed, 20 May 2026 08:20:03 EDT news698479382 This view of the Martian surface, captured by NASA's Psyche spacecraft on May 15, 2026, shows streaks that have formed due to wind blowing over impact craters in the Syrtis Major region. The image scale is nearly 1,200 feet (360 meters) per pixel. The wind streaks extend to about 30 miles (50 kilometers) long, and the large craters near the center-bottom of the scene average about 30 miles in diameter. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-image-nasa-psyche-mission-spies.html Space Exploration Wed, 20 May 2026 08:00:03 EDT news698479321 Some animals can move efficiently beneath granular surfaces. These include the sandfish (Scincus scincus), a lizard native to the Sahara. It can burrow into the sand and then literally "swim" through the desert sand to hunt or escape predators. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-mars-rovers-sand.html Space Exploration Tue, 19 May 2026 12:20:14 EDT news698405804 Asteroid mining seems simple in theory. A spacecraft flies up to a giant rock in space, scoops out some material, and either processes it on site or returns it back to a huge central processing facility. But in practice, it is certainly not that simple, and a new paper from some Spanish researchers, published in the journal Icarus, showcases one of the reasons why—many small asteroids are spinning ridiculously fast. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-asteroid-ob5-fast-current-prospectors.html Space Exploration Tue, 19 May 2026 07:20:01 EDT news698391482 A joint European-Chinese spacecraft blasted into orbit Tuesday to investigate what happens when extreme winds and giant explosions of plasma shot out from the sun slam into Earth's magnetic shield. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-spacecraft-capture-ray-views-earth.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 19 May 2026 03:56:10 EDT news698381725 In December 2023, scientists looking at Mars data stumbled across something completely unexpected—observations of an atmospheric effect never before seen in the Red Planet's atmosphere. Using instruments aboard NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, scientists identified a phenomenon known to occur in Earth's magnetosphere, where charged particles are squeezed like toothpaste coming out of a tube along magnetic structures called flux tubes. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-mars-reveals-zwan-wolf-effect.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 18:20:01 EDT news698339461 As misinformation spreads faster than ever across digital platforms, new research highlights growing risks to public understanding of planetary defense, an area of science that deals with the threat from asteroid and comet impacts, with potentially global consequences. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-misinformation-threatens-planetary-defense.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 17:20:01 EDT news698331334 Looking back at 14 years of Hubble telescope data for Jupiter's moon Europa has given Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists a better understanding of its tenuous atmosphere. The findings have cast doubt on previous evidence suggesting that the icy moon intermittently discharges faint water plumes from a presumed subsurface ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-reconsider-europa-vapor-plumes.html Astrobiology Mon, 18 May 2026 17:00:05 EDT news698337061 Earth has a group of cosmic stalkers. Known as "co-orbitals," these small bits of rock have a 1:1 mean motion resonance with Earth. Basically, they take the exact same amount of time to orbit the sun as we do. Astronomers have long believed these objects wandered in from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but recent spectral analysis suggests they better match the space-weathered lunar silicates that make up the moon's surface. As such, there has been an ongoing debate about whether these cosmic stalkers are actually visitors from the belt or blasted pieces of the moon. A new study, published in Icarus, from researchers Elisa Alessi and Robert Jedicke provides strong hints that the belt is the more likely source—but pretty soon we'll get a definitive answer from a spacecraft. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-earth-constant-companion-stray-asteroid.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 16:40:01 EDT news698331253 Bizarre Venus surface formations (or coronae) are likely key to understanding our twin planet's heretofore inscrutable interior. Using NASA Magellan spacecraft data from decades past, Anna Gulcher, an Earth and planetary scientist at Germany's University of Freiburg, has created innovative new 3D models of the largest coronae to better understand Venus' puzzling geodynamics. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-bizarre-venus-surface-formations-puzzle.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 16:20:01 EDT news698331247 They rank among the darkest and coldest places in the solar system: Hundreds of lunar craters, many of them at the moon's south pole, never receive direct sunlight and lie in permanent shadow. That's exactly why physicist Jun Ye and his colleagues suggest that these craters are the perfect place to build a critical component for an ultrastable laser. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-dark-lunar-craters-host-ultrastable.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 14:09:37 EDT news698332087 NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to capture this panorama of an area nicknamed "Arbot" on April 5, 2026, the 1,882nd Martian day (sol) of the mission, during the rover's deepest push west beyond Jezero Crater. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-images-nasa-perseverance-captures-panorama.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 08:07:40 EDT news698310381 Our solar system is currently passing through the Local Interstellar Cloud, a region of highly diluted gas and dust between the stars. On its path, Earth continuously accumulates iron-60, a rare radioactive isotope of iron produced in stellar explosions. This has now been confirmed by an international research team led by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) through the analysis of Antarctic ice tens of thousands of years old. From the steady but time-varying influx, the researchers conclude that the radioactive isotope has been stored within the cloud since a long-past stellar explosion. The results have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-stardust-antarctic-ice-cores-earth.html Astronomy Sun, 17 May 2026 15:20:01 EDT news697946932 A joint European-Chinese spacecraft is set to blast off Tuesday to investigate what happens when extreme winds and giant explosions of plasma shot out from the sun slam into Earth's magnetic shield. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-spacecraft-earth-shield-solar-storms.html Planetary Sciences Sun, 17 May 2026 11:20:01 EDT news698235340 When NASA scientists first observed a particular radio burst from the sun in August 2025, there was nothing unusual about it. But then the radio burst kept going. Typically, solar radio bursts like these last a few hours to days. But this one was different. By the time it was over, the radio burst had lasted 19 days—far exceeding scientists' expectations and the previous record, which lasted just five days. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nasa-missions-track-radio-sun.html Astronomy Fri, 15 May 2026 08:50:27 EDT news698053801